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Book Critique: Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible
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Contents
Introduction
Richards Randolph and O’Brien Brandon in Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible published in 2012 explores the ways different cultures, West and East, interpret the Bible. Richards and O’Brien have a rich background on culture and scripture, having done missionary work, especially Richards in Indonesia. Richards is a biblical studies professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University while O’Brien, his former student, is pursuing a doctorate at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and studying. The two authors argue that culture, especially the western one, is a barrier to scripture interpretation and uses exact context and biblical words to prove their point.[1] The book is a call to embrace other cultures and have a free mind when reading the Bible for the intended message. This book appeals in its exposure about how the Eastern and western people interpret the Bible and the provision of direction on how one should read the scripture.
Summary
The overall argument, as the title suggests, is that the western people ignore the cultural practices of other people and, therefore, fail to see the biblical point of view when reading. Western people have the perception that bible authors directed the scriptures to them and, accordingly, assumes that it is in their current context.[2] However, Richards & O’Brien shows that the Bible uses a universal approach since its writers were focused on the whole world community and not specific culture. As a result, interpretation of the various context and words should be based on the original setting where there were uncivilized people like the case in most non-western cultures. Richards & O’Brien uses several examples to show how the culture of the west view the Bible as written for themselves leads to misconception. There is the example of Paul requesting women to dress modestly where the first thing that comes in western readers is sexual modesty.[3] However, those times were like other cultures that the western see as a nuisance without sexual modesty in clothing. Paul was referring to modesty in avoiding expensive clothing like gold chains.
The various themes which the book covers support the thesis by showing how different cultural orientations block proper interpretation of the Bible. One of the issues is that of Mores, which are conventions that define culturally-appropriate behaviors, for example, sex, food, and money.[4] Failure to consider Mores in other cultures, for example, poverty, leads to the proper interpretation of the Bible because such cultural conventions were present during biblical times. There is also the theme of ethnicity, which Richards & O’Brien titles as The Bible in Color. Ethnicity makes some cultures, especially western cultures, to disapprove others and their beings, for example, black color. Such misconception is evident in the perception that blacks are slaves. The western people, therefore, translates that Moses went below himself by marrying a Cushite woman who was black.[5] In discussing all these actual misconceptions, Richards & O’Brien reminds readers that the goal is not to label the non-western practices as more faithful but to show how culture can block proper understating of the Bible.
Analysis
There is a well-developed point of view where Richards and O’Brien argue that the Bible carries a meaning beyond individual cultural constructs and hence requires interpretation from all cultures. The authors support the viewpoint through the idea that bible authors existed at a time when the current cultural constructs and beliefs did not exist or had different meanings. They use the word Mores to show that cultures have identified what is meaningful to them and ignored the rest.[6] Richards and O’Brien have a strong perspective that opens the reader’s mind to see that there are some vocabularies and reasoning which do not exist in some cultures. Richards and O’Brien, in this case, use black to show that Americans do not believe that the black are real people who should enjoy any right. Without going too far and universal with the example, a simple one would be how the poor view the rich and vice versa. The poor do not have the vocabulary of being rich and would, for example, interpret the term poor in Luke 6:20 “blessed are the poor” as material poverty. There is a real barrier in failing to consider the existence of such other Mores such as poverty and richness when reading the scripture.
Richards and O’Brien use the evidence of individualism versus collectivism to support the idea that people make bible interpretation in ways that resonate with their cultures. This evidence is strong and sufficient to support the thesis in that individualism is the genesis of people’s thinking and actions. The actual examples used like white versus black, wealth versus the poor and, modesty constructs about sex and material wealth are all common elements that people use to construct meanings.[7] Those who cannot afford western civilization ignores its existence while the people from the west see other Mores outside the culture as a nuisance. Such practices are selfish about reading the Bible because its context might be entirely outside the reader’s Mores leading to unintended meaning. The use of individualism as evidence of cultural blindness when reading the Bible, as a result, is strong and impacts the reader since it is prevalent in life.
The use of Western culture to show the impact of cultural blindness when reading the scripture is, on the other hand, strong because there is more civilization in the region compared to other parts of the world. Western people are more likely to have new mores compared to those during biblical times, for example, walking barefoot and worshipping someone to get the freedom of life and others.[8] They instead adopt practices such as cussing, drinking and smoking[9]. Advanced people tend to even concentrate on scriptures, which corresponds more to their high-level life and avoids those which appear to condemn them, for example, Mathew 19:23. Mathew 19:23 states that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, which the rich might interpret that it is those who possess material wealth hence avoid such quotes. The choice of comparison between the Western and Eastern practices, as a result, makes the argument strong due to the presence of real and sensitive examples.
Despite a strong argument, there is inconsistency and a gap that develops due to the use of Indonesia to represent the best way of biblical interpretation. Indonesia was not in Israel, and as such, it does not serve the universal Mores required to interpret the Bible. Richards’s collections in Indonesia opens up the cultural discussion to show the difference between the modern Western and the Eastern worlds, which is not consistent in comparing current and biblical times. A person who is not keen to identify the discrepancy will interpret that the book propagates the idea of cultural distinctiveness, which is not the case. An example is where the authors state that “In Indonesia, billiards is considered a grievous sin for Christians.”[10] However, that is not the case in all non-western cultures and might appear as a way of persuading people to label the game as evil. The various examples make the book look like a manual of carrying out missionary work in Indonesian and, therefore, break the consistency of the thesis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes is valuable in motivating and guiding people towards the proper way of reading and interpreting the Bible. The book serves as an eye-opener not only to the western people but all bible readers to understand that cultural barriers surfaces even in the scripture. There have been calls to become culturally competent in other areas like health and teaching, but people assume that such cultures do not impact bible reading. However, Richards and O’Brien succeed in showing that culture is also a barrier even in understanding the Bible since its authors had a background. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes is an excellent book that would help readers with scripture and social knowledge to resonates with the various arguments on how Mores impact the Bible. Such enlightened bible readers will find the book helpful because it will provide them with a proper approach to bible interpretation and hence advance their connection with God. The book is further valuable to preachers, especially the international ones and missionaries whom the public depends on, in the interpretation of the word. Preachers will develop a more open mind to place the word in its right context and hence appeal to different congregations.
Bibliography
Richards, E. Randolph, and O’Brien J. Brandon. Misreading Scripture with Western eyes: Removing cultural blinders to better understand the Bible. InterVarsity Press, 2012.
[1] Randolph, Richards E., and O’Brien J. Brandon. Misreading Scripture with Western eyes: Removing cultural blinders to better understand the Bible. (InterVarsity Press, 2012), 30.
[2] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 62.
[3] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 44.
[4] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 16.
[5] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 60.
[6] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 48.
[7] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 97.
[8] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 29.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Richards and O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 34.